(Somewhere in Japan)Mr. Kim of North Korea in a Grave State
The mother of Ms. Megumi Yokota, one of Japanese abductees by North Korea, once wrote in her book that she saw in a dream her daughter who had been taken away by North Korean secret agents decades ago.
Ms. Megumi Yokota in her mother’s dream was riding on a bicycle on a concrete floor of a bleak building with a kind of Christian symbol somewhere, according to my memory of reading the book.
And, in my room, I have still pictures of some Japanese abductees put up on the frame of a book shelf.
The pictures were made public when the then Japan’s Prime Minister Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi with the then Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr. Shinzo Abe carried out a very drastic blitz visit to North Korea for establishing a diplomatic relationship with North Korea and solving the Japanese abductees issue on September 17, 2002, which are however unfortunately yet to be accomplished.
PART 1: Reports on North Korea’s Military Parading
From last night to this morning and midday, Japanese TV stations delivered news on Chairman of North Korea Mr. Kim Jong-Il.
Mr. Kim Jong-Il did not turn up for the military parade held in Pyongyang celebrating North Korea’s 60th anniversary on Tuesday.
In the 50th and 55th anniversaries, he never failed in supervising the military parade from an observation gallery of a large building in the capital of the last Stalinist state on the earth.
-------------------------------------------------------
The official said Mr Kim had collapsed, but did not say when or how serious his condition was. He said he had not died.
But a North Korea official denied the reports, calling them "worthless".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7607513.stm
US intelligence was "pretty confident" of its health assessment, the official said, saying a stroke "possibly is what it looks like now".
South Korea's largest daily newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, said Kim, who is 66-years-old and believed to be suffering chronic illness, collapsed last month, citing a South Korean diplomatic source in Beijing.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/09/2008991676296237.html
-------------------------------------------------------
Some Japanese journalists were surprised at a marching of a group of North Korean soldiers without arms on their hands.
Indeed, hundreds of them were carrying no automatic rifles while they looked like students or citizen’s militias in military uniform.
In the North Korean military parade, it is unthinkable that the main features are just female air-defense companies with humble anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns mounted on small trucks.
The military parade conducted yesterday was poor and cheap, according to a certain Japanese critic.
And, Mr. Kim Jong-Il, the Chairman of the North Korean Military Committee, was absent.
The only reasonable conclusion is that North Korean military leaders avoided any colorful displays of their defense power which could be interpreted in the worst case as celebrating the absence of Mr. Kim Jong-Il.
It is in line with some Confucian teaching, too. When a head of a state is in a grave condition, a showy ceremony and marching must be refrained from.
PART 2: Japanese Citizens Abducted by North Korea
When inaugurated as Prime Minister of Japan last year, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda announced that he would solve this problem while he was in office.
His recent decision to step down soon after a new prime minister is elected in the Diet has disappointed families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
Yet, if Mr. Kim Jong-Il loses his power in the North Korean Government, there is a chance that new leaders in Pyongyang might consider early release of those Japanese abductees.
If so, Mr. Fukuda’s words can be judged to be coming true partly.
And, if so, the news on the new situations in North Korea will overwhelm the on-going presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.
PART 3: The Future of North Korea
From a historical point of view, it is of course China that could influence North Korea in politics and economy as well as national security.
From the first century B.C. to the third century A.D., Han and other Chinese dynasties occupied and colonized the Korean Peninsula (but not any part of Japanese Islands).
Even today, China regards North Korea as its last defense line on the ground against the U.S.
The Korean War (1950 -1953) ended without unification of the North and South Koreas. But the largest lesson China learnt in the War must be that General MacArthur tried to attack Chinese regions adjacent to North Korea with nuclear bombs.
If North Korea is absorbed by South Korea, due to the overwhelming economic power of the South, the U.S. might advance its military bases on the Korean Peninsula to a border area which is just 600 km or 400 miles east of Beijing.
Though China and the U.S. are very in good terms nowadays as China is investing big funds in the U.S. money market and the housing loan industry, if a kind of civil war is set off in China for more freedom and democracy, the presence of U.S. military forces so close would be a true threat for the Chinese Communist Party.
Therefore, China will try at any expense to keep North Korea off South Korea and the U.S. even if Mr. Kim Jong-Il should disappear or lose his power.
Yet, it is also reasonable for China to request new North Korean leaders or a successor of Mr. Kim Jong-Il to release Japanese abductees as soon as possible so as to maintain good relationships with Japan and the U.S., while Chinese economy needs continued support from advanced industries of Japan and the United States.
But, a chance looks so slim for North Korean insurgents, if any, to launch a civil war, seize the power, and abolish the present authoritarian government.
Until the Chinese Communist Party is driven out of Beijing and a truly democratic party starts to govern China, North Korea will not be able to find a chance to become a free and democratic country like South Korea.
***************************************************************
In March 1944, the Empire of Japan completed the building of a huge hydraulic power plant in North Korea which was then part of the Empire.
The power generation capacity of the Sui-Hou Dam was 600,000 kilo watts while the total power generation capacity of the Empire of Japan then was 2,800,000 kilo watts.
The dam survived WWII and the Korean War; it is still believed to be operated as one of the largest energy sources of North Korea.
( http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4%E8%B1%8A%E3%83%80%E3%83%A0 )
This is one example for the characteristics and the way of “colonization” by the Empire of Japan.
Unlike Western powers, the Empire of Japan really invested a great amount of money and resources into its occupying territories outside the Japanese Islands so as to promote modernization in those Asian regions left behind the Era until the end of WWII.
If Western journalists and pundits think that “colonization” by the Empire of Japan is similar to that by the U.K., France, and other European powers, they are completely wrong.
The Empire of Japan was not so cruel at all as the British Empire was in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
As a proof, Korea and Taiwan have each become a global economic power today, while India among former British colonies alone is gradually expanding its industrial modernization nowadays due to the IT boom.
In summary, North Korea had better release Japanese abductees and tie up with Japan for launching new development of its land, since only the Empire of Japan could build a very useful and powerful hydraulic power plant in the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II.
( http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/9668/we_have_in_jesus.mid
[Click the above link; then with a mouse cursor on the http link field of the browser, click a left button and hit an ENTER key to play it.]
Source: http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/9668/site_map_001.htm)
Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.